My Home Ideas

Special Offers

Be the first to know about This Old House contests, sweepstakes, and events and receive special offers and promotions from your favorite home improvement brands. We'll even send you regular reminders to enter our sweepstakes.

Contribute to This Story Below

More in Money

Original Northwood, Baltimore, Maryland

Once part of an 18th-century wooded estate, this North Baltimore neighborhood has never turned its back on nature. Developed in the 1930s as a planned community, its nearly 400 houses were built and sited to look as integral to this landscape as the centuries-old oak trees that surround them. Original Northwood (so named to distinguish it from newer developments in the nearby town of Northwood) was designed by the Roland Park Development Company, an affiliate of the Olmsted Brothers Landscape Architects, which came up with the plans for New York City's Central Park. The neighborhood adheres to the Olmstedian principles of following the contours of the land, retaining mature trees, and situating each house according to the characteristics of the lot. Because garages are detached and located in rear alleyways, there are no driveways, so front lawns run contiguously, broken only by walkways and the many ornamental specimen trees.

The HousesThe neighborhood is inspired by the English countryside, with most houses built in the English Colonial and English Tudor style. There are also duplexes and Tudor-style rowhouses. Most were erected between 1929 and 1937 and range in price from $175,000 to a high of $500,000. The neighborhood is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Why Buy Here?Original Northwood is located 15 minutes from downtown Baltimore and about an hour from Washington, D.C., which is accessible by train. House prices here have dropped from their peak in 2007–2008, so now's the time to buy.